A Declutter Checklist for Your Next Move

Ask anyone in my family–I don’t hold onto things and very rarely find anything sentimental which makes it easy for me to declutter and not have too much extra in the house BUT I realized during my home buying and selling process (and packing) that I had more than I realized. I’ll be sharing more on the home buying and selling process soon too (just moved into the new house a week ago today!)

First here are just a few general tips to make the moving process a little easier and streamlined:

General Moving Prep Tips

Start early! This is the biggest tip I have. Don’t procrastinate on this and as soon as you decide to start the home buying search, start slowly cleaning, organizing and letting go of items in your home you don’t need or want anymore.

I started in the rooms that were the most cluttered like my kitchen and its million junk drawers, the basement where storage of items I didn’t even want landed since I was too lazy to take care of it. I’d slowly go through items, throwing the actual trash away, buying additional storage bins and organizers to use.

I bought moving boxes once I had an accepted offer on my home so I had them for a good month before I moved out and I slowly started packing up areas in the home that weren’t high traffic, namely the basement.

Also, do it the right way with packing and actually use boxes, close those boxes and tape them shut. Don’t rely on old laundry baskets, old boxes from work without a lid and such for your move. It was such an easier process to have all the boxes packed, stacked and ready for moving!

Read on for my room by room checklist:

Living Room

I had a couple living room spaces in the old house, one in the basement where books and odds and ends ended up collecting. Go through:

• Books (I still had old textbooks from college on a shelf and then in a bin in the basement and finally said goodbye)
• Magazines (these so easily stack up, donate or throw out!)
• Decor (If you don’t love it, let it go!)
• Pet toys (or child toys!)

Bedrooms

As much as I get rid of clothes, I realize I never properly evaluated my closets and drawers in the four years I lived at the old house so a lot of items I didn’t want were sneakily still there alone with shoes, accessories and extra hangers I didn’t need.

• Clothing (go through closet by closet, drawer by drawer accessing if you actually want or need the item and make a pile for donation or sell (I sell on Poshmark, on Instagram or give to friends.)
• Shoes (when everything is just in its place in a closet or shelf, it’s easy to let a pair of shoes you don’t wear sit and collect dust for years. Let all the shoes go you’re not wearing and make the donation or sell pile!)
• Hangers (I got rid of mismatched hangers, the broken ones and the sad, tired looking ones!)

Bathrooms

A lot of products seem to pile up in even my small bathrooms at the old house. I’d forget about half used products I didn’t like in the vanity and just let it sit for years! Now’s the time to pull everything out and assess if you need it!

• Cleaning products (are some of the bottles even empty or just about gone? Throw it out!)
• Make up/skincare/hair products you’re not using: throw out or donate. Could very well be expired even if you didnt use it so check the dates.
• Heating tools/hair brushes (donate the ones you’re no longer using!)

Linen Closets

My linen closets were packed with old bedding I didn’t even want anymore and scrubby little towels and just too many beach towels I’d never use! Again, my method is to completely empty out the closets and go through each item individually. In this case, I pulled some items for my RV and also donated extra towels and bedding.

• Towels (bath towels, beach towels, hand towels, wash cloths)
• Comforters/sheets

Kitchen

This was probably the space in my house that needed the most decluttering before moving. I had several sets of bowls and plates and it was just too much. And don’t get me started on the expired food!

• Dishes and flatware (get rid of extra sets or mismatched items that you’ve somehow collected)
• Cups/tumblers (I hate free cups and wine glasses and rarely take those things home but even I accumulated some of these items and swiftly let them go! These take up so much space and you don’t need 12 free coffee cups with a random logo on it)
• Expired food (in cupboards, freezer and refrigerator)
• Appliances (if you’re not using that waffle maker, let it go!)
• JUNK DRAWERS (I had several at the old house and while I was house hunting I started going through these to throw away garbage like old receipts and opened mail and organized the items in drawer organizers making it so easy to pack up when I did move out)
• Medicine/medication (I keep most of these items in the kitchen and realized I had expired meds for the dogs, supplements that expired years ago)